machineries_of_empirefandomcom-20200213-history
Mothdrive
Mothdrives are exotic engines used to propel interstellar vessels in the heptarchate and hexarchate, as well as surrounding territories with calendrical technology. They appear throughout the Machineries of Empire continuity. Mothdrive vessels are comprised of technologically augmented voidmoths and are often referred to as moths for short. Military moths of many configurations are collectively known as warmoths. Overview Mothdrive engines take advantage of voidmoths' ability to travel through space, operating by "grabbing onto spacetime and pulling themselves along."Revenant Gun, Chapter 1 The engines are dependent on calendrical terrain. The ability to cross vast distances with mothdrive vessels made it possible for the hexarchate to expand and thrive as a cohesive regime far beyond its original boundaries.Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 3 Surrounding polities, such as the Hafn, use mothdrive vessels tuned to their own calendars; the formants of these vessels differ from hexarchate mothdrives on scan. Age, damage, and refits can also change individual mothdrive scan profiles. Mothdrive vessels are biotechnological in nature. Breeding, construction, and harnessing are carried out in mothyards.Revenant Gun, Chapter 5 The vessels' biological components are vulnerable to certain exotic attacks which specifically affect living objects, such as parasites or fungal canisters.Raven Stratagem, Chapter 6 Mothdrive harnesses are also vulnerable to calendrical rot, making the vessels unreliable in unfriendly or null calendrical terrain, so the vessels are also fitted with invariant maneuver drives, which work regardless of calendrical terrain.Revenant Gun, Chapter 5 Warmoths are equipped with both exotic and invariant weaponry and defenses for the same reason.The Battle of Candle Arc Mothdrive vessels with damaged biological components are healed by being fed batteries which have been charged with gate-space radiations.Hexarchate Stories: Glass Cannon Variable layout allows the vessels' interiors to be rearranged as needed, adding space or minimizing proximity between destinations. A state-of-the-art power core is required for variable layout in small moths.Raven Stratagem, Chapter 14 Lighting is provided by candlevines and ecoscrubbers maintain a livable environment and control pests. Access to vessels' mothgrids, including master maps, variable layout, communications, data, and secure areas, is handled through encrypted augments. Many mothdrive vessels are supported by enclaves of servitors which handle maintenance, food preparation, and other scutwork. The Nirai are often superstitious about mothdrive vessels, knowing their biological origins.Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 23 Much of the work of voidmoth design and construction is accomplished by servitors, who frequently add features for their own use without informing humans.Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 15 Though most humans are ignorant of the vessels' origins as self-aware creatures, servitors can communicate with their moths through mothgrids. History The first mothdrive engines were developed by Nirai Kujen during the reign of Heptarch Nirai Esfarel. A number of deaths took place during the period of experimentation before the first voidmoth was successfully harnessed.Revenant Gun, Chapter 9 Dependent upon calendrical terrain, mothdrive vessels allowed a period of expansion for the heptarchate. The shift from earlier invariant vehicles navigating the dustways to the biomechanical vessels equipped with mothdrive was reflected in a change of terminology from fleets of shipsThe Chameleon's Gloves to swarms of moths. Over subsequent centuries, the Nirai continued to create larger and more powerful generations of voidmoths through a long-term program involving breeding and genetic engineering.The Factions: Low Faction Nirai Between the death of Shuos Jedao and the Siege of the Fortress of Scattered Needles, class 22-5 mothdrives were developed; the improved drive could almost have fueled a new expansionist wave if the Pale Fracture's calendrical dead zone had not stood in the way.Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 5 Three mothyards, among them the only two capable of building cindermoths, were destroyed shortly before the revised calendar was broadcast.Raven Stratagem, Chapter 26 The Compact ordered a system in the Vonner Salient destroyed to deny the Protectorate resources necessary to resume building cindermoths. Though neither polity had the necessary infrastructure to build more cindermoths after that, Kujen continued to research and develop mothdrive in secret, culminating in the construction of a prototype for a new, larger class of warmoth, the shearmoth. Isteia Mothyard was annexed and destroyed by Kujen in a calendrical attack on the Fissure. Kel warmoths Kel warmoths of same class may be varied in shape; commanders may requisition customizations as budget permits. Most Kel moths are lean, sleek triangles with bristling gunports; cindermoths have mounted spinal cannons.Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 7; Revenant Gun, Chapter 1 In swarms, warmoths are usually divided into tactical groups. A group's most powerful warmoth usually heads the group, with the swarm's most powerful warmoth heading Tactical One and acting as formation leader of the swarm entire. Each warmoth has a commander; the moth heading Tactical One also carries the swarm's ranking high officer, usually a general. Like infantry personnel, Kel warmoths are used to channel formation effects. Shearmoth Revenant, the only known shearmoth, is the largest mothdrive vessel known to have existed.Revenant Gun, Chapter 1 It was called a "butchermoth" by the Kel.Revenant Gun, Chapter 19 Cindermoths Kel Command's six cindermoths, the hexarchate's “largest and most powerful vessels of war,” included Unspoken Law, Sincere Greeting, Hierarchy of Feasts, and Three Kestrels Three Suns. Cindermoths are agile and project calendrical stability around themselves. Used together, they synergistically bolster each others' individual effects.Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 5 Bannermoths Main article: Bannermoth Boxmoths Main article: Boxmoth Scoutmoths Scoutmoths range around their swarms to extend scan range. The Swanknot swarm had scoutmoths. Fangmoths Main article: Fangmoth Arrowmoths A type of warmoth in Kel swarms during the Lanterner rebellion.The Battle of Candle Arc Shuos shadowmoths Main article: Shadowmoth Rahal lensmoths Main article: Lensmoth Andan silkmoths Kel Command could build half a cindermoth for the cost of one silkmoth. Small, swift, and used as courier vessels, they may differ radically from the sleek configurations of warmoths. While many Andan moths have scrolled finials and etched flower motifs, Beneath the Orchid, a silkmoth commanded by Andan Tseya, is a dainty “stellate glory of silver-blue lace.”Raven Stratagem, Chapter 12,14 Trademoths Needlemoths A needlemoth is a small, swift, expensive one-or two-person moth often seen in spy dramas. A needlemoth owned by Vahenz afrir dai Noum was commandeered by Ajewen Cheris.Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 24 Enemy moths Forty-eight years before the Hafn invasion, Kel Command responded to a quarrel with the Andan by switching to flower names for enemy moth type designations.Raven Stratagem, Chapter 6 Hafn moths Hafn "magnolia" moths are larger than bannermoths but not as formidable as cindermoths. "Lilacs" roughly match bannermoths in both size and armament. The Hafn also possessed at least two unclassed auxiliaries. Lanterner moths During the Lanterner rebellion, Lanterner swarms such as the one commanded by General Bremis kai Meghuet used hellmoths, a class smaller than fangmoths but well-armed in friendly calendrical territory. Slower transports were also employed.The Battle of Candle Arc Trivia * The humming sound made by hoppers, which are only slightly smaller than needlemoths, opens the possibility that they may also be moth-derived.Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 9 References Category:Technology Category:Heptarchate Category:Hexarchate Category:Hafn Category:Lanterners Category:Stubs